Around The World In 31 Days Of Horror: Norway

Today we head back to the Nordic countries and focus on Norway. The first film made in Norway (Fiskerlivets farer) was in 1907 and unfortunately it has been lost. One of the first horror films was in 1911 called Dæmonen. It too is mostly lost except a couple of minutes.

Throughout the years there hasn’t been a lot of horror movies made in Norway. The vast majority of films are comedies, dramas, documentaries and crime thrillers. It wasn’t until 1958 when the Lake of the Dead was made that Norway had it’s first real taste of horror.Lake of the Dead is based on a novel by the same name. A group of people head out to a cabin in the woods. The cabin was previously owned by a man who murdered his sister and her lover and then himself. Legend has it that anyone who stays there will eventually find themselves drawn to the lake and drown themselves there.

The film is creepy and moody. It was nominated as the fourth best Norwegian film of all time in 1998. In 2003 another horror about a lake film, Villmark, kickstarted the horror genre in Norway.

Since then there have been several excellent horror films. Cold Prey, it’s sequel, Dead Snow and Trollhunter are just a few of the films that have come out of Norway recently. Trollhunter was even featured in a previous 31 Days of Horror.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLHV5_wCKPw

Author: Shane Hnetka

Shane Hnetka spends most of his life watching movies and reading comic books, using his vast knowledge of genre culture for evil instead of good.
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